U of M athletes make honor roll history

More so than ever in today's world, the emphasis is placed on the athlete and not the student in college sports. Time and time again, a program loses an athlete due to failing grades or poor attendance. However, during the 2012-2013 academic year student-athletes at the University of Memphis excelled in the classroom, placing 228 on the Conference USA's Commissioner's Honor Roll as announced by conference Commissioner Britton Banowsky. Memphis' 228 student-athletes that made the list is the highest total for any institution this year in C-USA, including prestigiously academic Rice and Tulane. "I am extremely proud of the academic accomplishments of our student-athletes", said Memphis Athletics Director Tom Bowen. "Their work in the classroom is a tribute, to not only themselves, but to our coaches and to Bob Baker [Director of Athletic Academic Services] and the advisors in our academic center." This marks the seventh-consecutive year that the number of Tiger student-athletes named to the list has increased. This year's total was 10 higher than last year's mark of 218. Behind the Tigers for number of student-athletes named to the C-USA Commissioner's Honor Roll, UCF ranked second with 227 named to the honor roll with Rice ranking third at 215. "Our commitment as a staff is to make sure that our student-athlete has everything needed to receive a degree from the University of Memphis and obviously, our student-athletes are doing their part to make sure they reach their ultimate goal in the classroom," Bowen said. To be named to the list, student-athletes must maintain a cumulative grade point average of at least 3.0. Aside from Memphis placing the most on the honor roll, C-USA as a whole placed a record number of 2,566 student-athletes on the list, an increase of more than three percent from a year ago. Also being announced today will be the Commissioner's Academic Medal, which is given to student-athletes with a cumulative grade point average of 3.75 or better.